Notes / Commercial Description:
A blond ale reminiscent of the golden fields at harvest - made with Michigan-grown barley and a delicious blend of pale malts with a distinctive spicy, floral aroma and taste. We invite you to reap what we've sown.

Reviews by tone77:

Poured from a brown 12 oz. bottle. Has a dark golden color with a 1/2 inch head. Smell is of malts, some caramel, a bit of hops. Taste is malts, a bit of hops, balanced and easy drinking but not overly flavorful. Feels medium bodied in the mouth and overall is a pretty good beer.

More User Reviews:

Brewed with barley from their own farm, it has a noticeable terroir of sorts—a trend that we hope sticks, as it’s adding dimension to the beer world. Balance and dryness amp up the drinkability to 10. The Earth doesn’t shake, but we’d make this a mainstay in our beer fridge. You can’t get much more American than this.

One that I've been reluctant to purchase... or even try, just based on the relatively poor reviews it has. But hey, it's Bell's, so it can't be that bad, right? ....Right?? Midwestern Pale Ale pours out like a foggy pear skin; muddled and overrun by a jungle of small and sifting sediment particles. The porcelain head looks like a cloud, overcasting the unfiltered brew and taking its sweet ol' time to finally settle itself.

The aroma is kind of confusing. And not really in a good way. Mildly sulfuric, toasted bread, pale malt, and a touch of meek, musty hops, reminiscent in my mind of Saaz, or at least some kind of Noble hop. I get a chunky, crisp lager whiff, too, very akin to lagering yeast. Really, this smells like more of a lager than an ale, but not even a *good* one at that. Kind of boring and plain, and not really fitting of the "American Pale Ale" namesake.

Equally disappointing is the flavor, starting off with a combo of light DMS, sulfur, and off-beat graininess - this beer almost tastes like it has been sunstruck... so much for the brown bottle. Metallic notes, musky, and earthy hops that are far too faint with a finishing sucker punch of dirt, crisp yeast, and unexciting pale malt. Light bodied, not a whole lot in terms of palate presence, though the carbonation is crispy and dry, again, giving me that "lager" feel.

Bleh, wow. I'm pretty upset with Bell's on this one. Not at all what I think of when I hear the term "Pale Ale". For a brewery that has released stuff like Two Hearted, Hopslam, and Expedition Stout, you kind of expect more out of their constant rotation pale ale. Instead, we have this boring, bland, mildly off-putting, almost lager-ish but not as good, confusing mess of a beer. Good thing they have so many other great offerings - this one won't be missed.

Presentation: It was poured from a brown 12 oz bottle into a pint glass. The label on the back has a brief description of the beer and it lists the abv at 5.2%.

Appearance: Midwestern Pale Ale has very thick and creamy off white head which hangs on well. It sits on top of a deep golden/light amber body with some hazing and yeast sediment floating around. As I drink it makes lots of cool lacing on the glass.

Smell: It has a sweet bready and malty character with a light herbal, almost mineral like hop note for balance.

Taste / Palate: Up front it has sweet honey and orange marmalade flavor with a smooth bready base underneath. Light herbal and floral hop notes move in and a good balance of hop bitterness to the finish. It has a solid medium to full body and the palate feels smooth and balanced with carbonation.

My first bottle of this was 4 and a half weeks old and reeked of skunk. The second, purchased from a different store, was 3 months old and not light struck.
L: It pours hazy gold with a slight orange tint under a 2” cream colored finely bubbled foam collar that hugs the side of the glass.
S: The nose is a little muted due to age but clean rich malt aromas join with light caramel and a slightly sharp hop aroma.
T: Starts off like a liquid baguette with a light caramelly background sweetness and finishes with a big bitter emphasis that balances well with the well developed malt flavors.
F: Creamy, medium body and carbonation.
O: This is a well balanced, big flavorful midrange beer that is easy to drink.